By Chuck Nowlen
Published March 15, 2001Copyright 2001, Las Vegas
Weekly/Radiant City
Publications

OK, some people get happy when they drink; other people get mean.

Us? We’re only mean when we’re sober.

So think of this column as that besotted hug you give the office
jackass at the
tail end of the St. Patrick’s Day party, just because you
feel so damned good.

Don’t worry, though: Just like after the party,
we’ll soon be skewering the bastards
again every chance we get.

Anyway, it’s time to say something good about the cops.

Yep, they can still be control-freak brutes on occasion, and, in Sin
City, they
seem to get away with anything most of the time. And few sights can
strike
pee-your-pants fear in people’s hearts like the reflection of
a big-ass squad
car looming ever closer in a rear-view mirror.

But the UNLV Police Department, for one, has been showing a kinder,
gentler side
recently. Since January, some officers have been patrolling the campus
not in a
super-macho cruiser, but in a cute little egg-shaped vehicle
that’s powered by
electricity.

Cross a golf cart, a VW Bug and the movie character, Babe, and
you’ll get the
idea.

“I thought it
would be ideal for
patrolling the campus malls and parking lots,” smiled UNLV
Police Chief Jose
Elique last week in the campus “Update” newsletter.
“Because it is battery
powered, it also has the benefit of being non-polluting. Another plus
is that
the response from the campus community has been very
positive.”

Elique, mind you, has had a few PR problems of his own. There
apparently was friction
with some officers over his take-charge style when he first arrived in
June.
Elique, a counter-terrorism expert, also was dogged for a while by
reports of
Big Brother student surveillance during his tenure as police chief at
the City
University of New York.

But, hey, a Smurf cruiser in Las Vegas? And a nonpolluting one at that?

We’re not used to
this stuff
here. Elique, at least, seems to be testing the outdated Sin City
tradition of
uniformed Neanderthals driving prowlers that seem to snarl -- and that
definitely have a tendency to bite.

Whether it’s a cosmetic change at UNLV or not remains to be
seen, although,
come to think of it, we haven’t seen too many cop-bruised
bodies on campus lately,
have we?

Whatever the case, Elique deserves some credit for trying something
new. He
also should get some props for entertaining the idea of using brains
rather
than brawn when it comes to law enforcement.

Hmmm ... a Vegas cop with brains. What a novel concept, and we hope it
catches
on.

You know what, Chief Elique,
you
seem like a damned good guy all of a sudden. Here, let us pat you on
the back
buy you a drink.